So last week was well... a tough one! All was going well, I was getting the hang of solo parenting, taking both kids out to soft play, fee...

Monday, May 29, 2017

Baby's First Books - Rebecca - The.Bookplate

Monday, May 29, 2017
BookBairn Blog
10 Comments

So last week was well... a tough one! All was going well, I was getting the hang of solo parenting, taking both kids out to soft play, feeling ok about managing them both when things took a very downward turn. The Wee Page Turner was overly sleepy and not feeding well and just off-colour, so we took him to the doctor who, because he is so little, sent us to hospital who tested him for everything and put him on antibiotics as a precaution until the results came back and, because he is so little, they put him in the High Dependency Unit. It all escalated really fast. He had a very common virus that most children now get vaccinated for at their 8 week check-up but of course he's only four weeks old so hasn't had it yet. We are home now and he is back to his usual self. But gosh the emotions I've been through this week. And thank goodness for grandparents! BookBairn wouldn't have had any fun if it hadn't been for them! Thank you all four of you! The week ended on a high though as we went to see the local duck race and hundreds of yellow plastic ducks floated down the river. What great fun!

I'm handing over this weeks recommendation to Rebecca from the.bookplate. Rebecca serves up some fantasy recommendations on her table and her photos are a feast to behold! And I love her post so much I plan to write my own 'A (Bookish) Mother’s Wish' when I get a little more time to think about it!

A (Bookish) Mother’s Wish

The first time I held my oldest baby in my
arms, the enormity of the situation hit me. I was being tasked with the
responsibility to not only teach this little person everything there is to know
about life, but also to mold how they think and behave, largely craft who they are, through my own example. To
think that I was accountable for that kind of responsibility had me feeling out
of my depth and seriously lacking.

Unwilling to throw in the towel (and unable
– there’s no putting that baby back in!), I realized that I could use books to
help me instill values and important lessons to my children with little to no
effort on my part. We could use this wonderful combination of snuggles,
laughter, and board books to say what I sometimes cannot verbalize and offer
questions that we can use to explore ideas that are unfamiliar or daunting.

But even more than preparing them for the
world, it’s my belief that sharing this reading time is really about just one
thing: love. Showing your kids their
importance by setting aside your phone, chores, or other worthy pursuits in
order to share a simple act of kindness; this means the world to them, which is
ironic because they are your world.

In keeping with that thought, here is a
list of books with themes that say some of my greatest wishes for my children:

Be yourself– Giraffes Can’t Dance, by
Giles Andrea

Have fun – We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, by Michael
Rosen

Imagine - Harold and the Purple Crayon, by
Crockett Johnson

Find good friends – A Color of My Own, by Leo Lionni

You are special – On the Night you were Born, by Nancy
Tillman

You are mine - Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes,
by Mem Fox

Keep trying – Kitten’s First Full Moon, by Kevin
Henkes

Don’t be scared – What was I Scared of?, by Dr. Seuss

Spread kindness –The Pout Pout Fish, by Deborah Diesen

I’m always here– Llama Llama, Red Pajama, by Anna
Dewdney

Be honest – This is not my Hat, by Jon Klassen

Be silly – Moo,
Baa, La La La, by Sandra Boynton

Forgive and forget – Little Blue Truck, by Alice Schertle

Create – If I Built a Car, by Chris Van Deusen

Share – The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry,
and the Big Hungry Bear, by Don and Audrey Wood

I love you– I Love you Through and Through, by
Bernadette Rossetti Shustak

My love is unconditional –
No, David, by David Shannon

You have great potential –
Little Acorn Grows Up, by Edward
Gibbs

You can change the world – The Curious Garden, by Peter Brown

Obviously not
every book that we’ve loved has had a moral or a purpose. Here are some of our
“just-because” favorites:

Hello, Ninja, by
N.D. Wilson

I am a Bunny, by
Ole Risom

Freight Train,
by Donald Crews

The Fire Engine
Book, by Tibor Gergely

Wow, it’s a
Cow!, by Trudy and Jay Harris

What Does Cow
Say?, by Joan Holub

ABC is for
Circus, by Patrick Hruby

Each Peach,
Pear, Plum, by Janet and Allan Ahlberg

1 is One, by
Tasha Tudor

Oh, What a Busy
Day, by Gyo Fujikawa

The Rooster
Struts, by Richard Scarry

Happy Reading!

Rebecca, from
the The.Bookplate

Thank you so much Rebecca! What a great list of books to start a child's library! Many of these I've heard of but, I'm almost ashamed to admit, we actually only have one of these books - and we only have it because of the recommendation from one of the previous contributors to our Baby's First Books Series - On the Night You Were Born. We will need to get collecting some of these ones too. And, as I said at the start I feel inspired to write my own 'Bookish Mother's Wish' list!

Hope you enjoyed this most recent guest post, to find them all clickhere.

Love Mummy and the Wee Page Turner xx

How to find Rebecca:Rebecca has a wonderful Instagram feed and you can find her by clicking here.

Thank you! I think a lot of the books are popular in America so that's probably why we are less familiar with them but it's nice to see the choices as otherwise we wouldn't have heard of them at all! Thanks for the link up!

What a scare the Wee Page Turner gave us but what a quick response from the NHS staff - fantastic. What a great list of books from Rebecca. I can still remember holding MummyBookBairn just after she was born and being scared to bits about the responsibility but she has turned out ok.

Thanks! Turned out not too bad! And it's nice to know that you were daunted by the responsibility too - it never seemed that way to us! But it makes me feel better that no one really knows what they are doing in the world of parenthood!

Glad to hear the Wee Page Turner is OK now, must have been so frightening for you all.

Love this list of books and I'm totally on board with how important reading time is. Whenever my boys ask me to read them a story I always stop what I'm doing to read them at least one even when I'm busy. #readwithme

Welcome to BookBairn! We love reading fabulous books and we enjoy sharing our favourites here on our blog. BookBairn is a huge fan of creative and inspiring picture books, and The Wee Page Turner enjoys a tasty and sturdy board book. We also share some of our baby and toddler lifestyle favourites. Hope you enjoy our recommendations.

Book Giving Day

We are proud supporters of Book Giving Day and will be running a series of giveaways to celebrate. Click the photo above to find out more.